Somethigns happenign in the underground and all across south Wales there seems to be new exciting bands kicking up a shitstorm. From the East to the West its happening and the good people of South Wales need to get on board and maybe it will catch fire. Last weekend I went to the wonderful venue that is the Elyseum on the salubrious High Street to catch the impressive Baby Schillaci who have impressed me with their first two singles. So, it seemed only fair that I should go catch them live and see if this fire needs fanning and to be fair it didn’t dissapoint.

We arrived to see a healthy crowd in early for the performance of noisy alt punks Hong Kong Handover who seemed to be enjoying their time making a noise and thrashing about. Maybe a sweaty dark pub would be more suited and not having heard anything by them before it kinda washed over me but I did like their energy. As for HWDU i’ve seen them before in a squalid local pub where they were harvesting the wuhan bats for any future pandemic better known to locals as The Duke in nearby Neath. The first thing I noticed was singer/guitar player was sporting a Dead Moon shirt which isn’t somethign I was expecting on this Saturday night in Swansea and the band have some strong songs in the mix of their grungy post punk noise and along with their enthusiasm this evening eas shaping up rather nicely.

By the time the headliners took to the floor, there was a decent expectant audience in attendance as the band ripped open their set with some strong material in their brief but to-the-point set. Having two guitars and two vocalists is a good move for their post-punk offerings and a set that blended well through the darker more alternative style songs in the set (mixing up some of the darker britpop with the punk grunge of ‘Bleach’ through the pre ‘Bla Bla Bla’ era that Iggy had going on.

I was impressed with the quality of the songs and the style, but the ones that worked best were the all-out noise they brought to the room and it was with great energy. I want to hear more and see them play again an impressive performance from these boys on first impressions and no doubt they could be onto something with songs like ‘Radical’ and ‘Dead Wrestler’. As the songs will be more familiar and with each performance I’ve no doubt they will get better and better. They did save the best til last and finished off their short but sweet set with the new single ‘So Bad’, it was perfect as the pit was whipped up and we were left wanting more. Excellent night out and it was Free entry, bonkers!

Remember the name and if they hit your town get out there and get involved ‘Baby Schillaci’, Yeah! total Schillaci. Impressive first impressions.

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Author: Dom Daley